A : Missing Moments
by MioneBristow
Summary: This compilation of missing scenes does include scenes from First Kiss. Please proceed with caution if you have not read the book yet. Each 'chapter' does include the book that it is out of. I do not own anything, all characters and book based situations belong to C.L. Stone.
1. A Report: Into The Woods (First Kiss)

**_~A~_**

Sean glanced quickly at Sang's tear stained face as he pulled his jacket on and hurried out of the tent, sure that Owen would be following and he sure did hope there was an explanation coming. He turned and waited for him to close up the tent and join him.

He was mildly surprised to see his shoulders tight and even as he brushed past and motioned for Sean to follow him. "I don't understand." He said softly, studying the tense posture of his best friend as they headed away from the cabins, and the council… and just beyond where a few of the other team leads had chosen to stay in tents.

Owen paused, glancing around for a moment before a soft sigh escaped him and he turned to look at Sean, his eyes glinting darkly as his gaze narrowed for a moment. His jaw was tight in a line and Sean was pretty sure that a warning about grinding teeth would not go over well right now. "I'm an imbecile." He stated, running his hand through his hair, ruffling it up from where it had previously still laid just as it had been all day in perfect placement. "I failed her. We almost …" He shook his head. "God, how could I be so stupid…"

Sean crossed his arms and gave him a long hard stare. "Talk in complete sentences." He said. "Please, for those of us that were sleeping."

Owen huffed a sigh and took his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She can't be with girls." He said softly. "I should have realized it before… she was off on Christmas after Erica hugged her." He frowned. "I knew it then but she just shrugged it off."

"I suggested she wasn't ready but you insisted." Sean scowled at him. "Wait… what? Did she essentially solve our problem because she can't be on a girl team?"

"She was convinced they were going to kick her out or force her to be with girls and the thought terrified her."

"But what happened?"

Owen ran his hand through his hair. "Apparently…" His voice held a hint of bewilderment. "Girls hug."

Sean blinked for a moment, uncrossing his arms and running his hand through his hair, messing up the curls even more. "But we hug her." He said in a low tone. "Like, all the time. I can't hardly believe they let her go anywhere by herself."

"Our touch or hugs doesn't affect her." Owen said. "She was quite adamant between the sobs that she welcomes our touch…. Kisses."

Sean smiled slightly. "Good to know." He said lightly. "How in the world did you even find her?"

Owen shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure but I heard footsteps and thought I'd check only for her to run right into my arms in the dark." He sighed. "She was crying so hard. She couldn't hardly talk. She was ready to give up, toss it all aside."

"How did you do with that emotional state?" Sean asked curiously. As far as he knew, none of them had really seen Sang distressed and dissolving in tears. He'd obviously dealt with his fair share through the hospital work but he'd always wondered what the rest of them would do with a crying female on hand.

Kota would handle it, having been there for his sister and mom, of course. But Sean had been waiting and waiting to find out how his best friend would react.

"I wasn't…" Owen shook his head. "It was so wet…" He murmured. "She's probably dehydrated because of all the tears she shed." He frowned. "I wasn't sure what to do." He admitted, gazing at Sean. "I finally hugged her but that's just about when she flat out said she couldn't work with a girls' team and then I made her go tell the council it all, right now."

"That was rather cold and unfeeling of you." Sean frowned as he considered what had happened.

"I apologized." He said softly. "She had to say it now. If she slept on it, she'd say anything she thought they wanted to hear in the morning. She'd compartmentalize it and hide it away."

Sean nodded. "True." He sighed. "She does hate to be a bother. And light of day would convince her that she imagined it all." He winced. "We're not stupid or imbeciles, we've been respectful of her wishes. She hasn't said anything before so we didn't realize. Most of the time she's just around us." He said.

Owen's head inclined ever so slightly in agreement. "Isn't it curious that she seems to honestly only have the issue with girls close to her age and older women." He commented.

"Maybe not so curious." Sean said, forehead furrowed as he thought. "Her step mother and girls her own age are the problem." He said, staring at Owen for a moment.

"Hmm. I hadn't thought of that. Her issues with Jade and even at Victor's house with Muriel make things make sense then."

"But she doesn't have issues with the babies… or little ones." Sean said. "She was perfectly fine with the little girls on Thanksgiving."

Owen nodded. "She's good with Miss Lee." He said. "But she definitely was doing everything she could to tolerate a hug from Erica." He said before stifling a yawn.

"What's next…?" Sean asked, stifling his own yawn.

"I need to go grab Mr. Lee. We have a late night meeting with Dr. Roberts to try and figure out what angle to take tomorrow. It's probably not time to disclose what we know about the Anderson team yet but he was sort of angling earlier in the week that it might be time to reveal her ghost status."

Sean nodded slightly. "Isn't it fortunate too that our brothers unanimously rejected the offer for all of them to graduate immediately? There's absolutely no where else that she could go." His eyes lit up slightly. "She's ours, Owen… there's no way she can go anywhere else."

Owen nodded again. "You should probably get one of the boys to go back to our tent with you. She's been on her own all week, she could probably use something familiar and unfortunately, you and I are still under close scrutiny or I'd just tell you to go back and take good care of our girl."

"I can't wait to go home." Sean sighed. "I just want time with her again." He admitted. "Let's go see who's awake enough to come with me." He rested a palm on Owen's shoulder. "Relax, Owen…" He said softly. "It's going to be fine…"

Owen glanced at him for a long moment. "I hope you're right." He finally said as they turned to the campground again and headed for the tent where the boys were so that they could take care of what was now needed to protect their girl.

 **(Fade…)**


	2. A Report: Bird Rescue (Introductions)

**~A~**

Sean groaned as he rattled the mouse to make his computer wake up. "Please tell me as soon as school starts we are actually going to use our laptops and not these dinosaurs?"

Owen rolled his eyes at him. "What? Aren't you enjoying the wonders and mysteries that are windows 6?" he asked in a dry tone. Sean snorted. "Good thing we already enrolled the boys in their classes and managed to bypass the whole process."

"True." Sean nodded. "But why exactly are they here today?" he asked.

"So that we can test the cameras."

"The cameras that Gabe and Victor planted while they were taking the school tour the other day?" Owen nodded. "Okay, so why are they hanging out just staring at the door…?" He peered at the grainy feed that showed up on his monitor. "This is nuts." He grumbled, pulling out his phone and accessing the cameras instead.

"Are you sure you don't want to just go to the hospital and scare some patients?"

"I'm wounded, Owen… I don't scare patients."

"You're right. I'm sure you annoy them."

"Wrong again. Clearly we need to get you out more. Eat a snickers or something, Owen. You're not yourself when you're hungry. Wait… you're not yourself when you tighten that darned necktie too tight. Loosen up, it's not actually school yet." He practically felt the eye roll and glare hit him square in the forehead.

"I'm fine."

"Fine, you're not pacing and stressing out but you're not seeing this either." Sean said.

"See what exactly, Dr. Green?"

"The fact that our 7 brothers are basically loitering in the main area, I would have thought they would have gone down a few hallways or followed a few people by now. There are plenty of interesting looking suspects, I mean students here today."

Owen rolled his eyes and pulled up the cameras on his phone app as well. "For the record, yes, we will be using our laptops once school starts. I'm already trying to pull the strings and figure out what happened to the IT budget that would keep all the staff and teachers in the latest updates and technology."

"Good." Sean said, his eyes catching on Luke moving away from the group. "Well, Well, Well… just what do we have here….?" He glanced up and saw Owen's arched eyebrow. "Luke." He said. "Check out the bird he just snagged."

Owen huffed a sigh but searched, finding Luke with his arm around the shoulders of a petite blonde. "Interesting." He commented.

Sean watched as all of his brothers materialized around Luke and the girl. "Very interesting." He said with a nod. "Do we know anything at all about her? How is it that they've managed this?"

"I'm not sure but they sure are keeping secrets from us for some reason." Owen said. "You didn't know?"

Sean shook his head. "I swear, I would have told you if I knew." He said, eyes locked on the screen. "She's something though. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Gabe gave her advice on what to wear today, she fits in well with them."

Owen's lips pursed into a tight line. "I don't like it." He muttered, eyes narrowing as he watched his team exchange silent glances over her head. "Interesting." He said again as they split off into groups, Victor and Silas staying with the blonde, North and Luke splitting off to go follow a dark haired girl.

"Very interesting." Sean commented. "Who do you think that is? She was hanging out with that girl from their neighborhood earlier." Owen gave a tight nod, jotting down some notes on a notepad while they continued to monitor what was going on. "Looks like she's getting split away from them." Sean said after a while, seeing she was currently standing with a man … perhaps her father… as he signed her paperwork and they exchanged a few words before she darted away, in search of the classroom where she'd get her schedule finalized.

"Looks like she's not going to make it back to Mr. Morgan and Mr. Korba."

"No…" Sean replied absently, quickly checking to see that they were looking around for her. "She's too petite, they've lost her in the crowd."

Owen winced. "And yet, she's on a path to collide with McCoy." He said. "That could be trouble."

They'd both agreed that they had to keep an eye on the Vice Principal. All of the female teachers and staff kept a wide path around him and they just weren't sure how smart it was to have him interacting with the girls at the school.

Sean sighed. "There it goes." He winced. "Hello Mr. McCoy… thank you for scaring all the decent, cute girls around."

"Dr. Green… you're a teacher here. You can't say those things around or to or about the students."

Disapproval rang through Owen's words. "I know, I know. But you won't say anything to them so we'll just keep it between us."

"You're a nut." He said, glancing at Sean.

Sean cracked a grin at him. "But we're a team Owen. Which means it takes one to know one and you are definitely just as much of a nut as I am. I mean, we are inside a high school for the first time in our lives and whose bright idea was that? Hmm? Hmm?"

Owen pursed his lips and stared at the screen. "Just go rescue the little bird." He said, nudging his glasses up from his nose and pinching the bridge to ward off a headache.

"I will so you go ahead and take those headache meds that I know are in the top drawer of that desk." Sean said. Owen waved a hand at him, motioning him to go away as he pulled out the drawer. Sean left his desk, straightening his tie and running a hand through his hair as he left their tiny little office.

It was barely bigger than the bedroom had been at the first apartment that they'd shared. But they would make it work. They'd managed with that old apartment after all. They'd manage here. Sean hurried his steps. He'd left his phone at his desk, trusting Owen to shut everything down to ward against prying eyes if there were any around.

Owen remained locked in place for now, watching Sean's path to the girl… observing how her body language practically screamed that she wasn't comfortable with the encounter. "Get there Sean…" Owen's eyes narrowed before he caught a glimpse of Silas and Victor coming into that hallway as well. "Perfect, make them wonder, Sean… make them wonder…"

Sean's eyes narrowed as he approached, unable to hear what was being said but knowing it wasn't something the girl liked hearing, based on how tense and stiff her posture went. "Mr. McCoy…" He called out, hurrying his steps a bit more as both Vice Principal and tiny little scared bird turned to face him.

 **(Fade…)**


	3. A Report: Detention (First Days)

**~A~**

"She's going to be a handful."

"Aw, come on, Owen. You like her. You know you do."

Owen scowled. "Mr. Coleman is right to call her trouble. We're not going to see anything but trouble from her."

"But she told you about what's happening today. You like her more." Sean smirked.

Owen pursed his lips and his gaze narrowed as he stared at his best friend. "You don't seem to understand what I am saying." He stated coolly. "She's trouble, they aren't focused because of her." He said, running his hand over his hair, pressing it back into place before he crossed his arms. "Not one of them has bothered to let me know that they have detention or why… or explained just what they're thinking in doing it."

"Obviously they are protecting her." Sean shrugged. "And maybe they're going to tell you at lunch or after all of them have secured a seat in detention."

"Mr. Lee has had a detention since first period." Owen scowled. "Because he ASKED for it. He's family lead but still reports to me and I did NOT authorize detention this early in the school year."

Sean leaned back against his desk, his own arms crossed in front of his chest. His green eyes sparkled like crazy with amusement. He just adored it when Owen got all worked up about something. It was funny. Eventually he calmed down and everything came to a very smooth plan but the work up part was hilarious. "Okay, so they're bad boys for not mentioning it. Let's talk instead about the fact that McCoy has it out for Miss Sang."

Owen rolled his eyes, huffed a sharp, short sigh and nodded slightly. "He does. Question is, would she be so on his radar if we hadn't intervened?" he asked. "I hadn't wanted them to get any detentions, it works at cross purposes for our assignment."

Sean nodded slightly. "Okay, fine, I can see that this doesn't fit our purpose. First step then is to get ourselves in charge of detention today. I'm pretty sure that the 8 of them are the only ones on the list today."

"Yes. Good place to start." Owen said, shifting and starting to pace slightly in the small space between their desks, his hands on his hips as he thought and paced.

"Second…" Sean paused, running his hand though his hair, messing up the curls. "Miss Sang totally would have been on his radar. Before I walked up, he was about to make her go home and change … at REGISTRATION… simply because he thought her skirt was too short. So why was he even looking at her legs…?" he scowled.

"Again, another reason we have to keep an eye on him." Owen muttered under his breath.

"Third, how are we going to play this?" Sean grinned as he looked at Owen. "Are we going to be, aw yeah, boys… good job protecting Sang and getting detention… rite of passage… yada yada yada, frat house style?" He asked excitedly.

Owen glared at him with an icy cool glare. "NO. We are not going to be "proud" of them for doing this." He said, pushing up the edge of his glasses. "That would give the entirely wrong impression."

"Okay, I can see that." Sean nodded. "So good cop bad cop…" He nodded again. "You be all stern and disproving and silent and I will act properly solemn but be the one that talks. We'll take them and Miss Sang somewhere…"

"And get a point across that she has done their job far better, impressively and remarkably better than they have done." Owen said softly.

Sean blinked at him. "You do like her." He breathed, his eyes wide.

Owen rolled his eyes at him. "Knock it off and get serious." He said. "Or I will only answer to Mr. Blackbourne for the foreseeable future."

Sean rolled his eyes. "I am always serious when it comes to Miss Sang." He stated, pressing a hand to his chest. "How dare you suspect otherwise, Owen." He smiled. "Okay, point noted. She'd been doing their job for them and impressing you. So what is our next step? If we put them in those damn uniforms Hendricks wants, she's in danger … more danger than she is right now."

"And that is not what we want at all." Owen said. "So I think we'll have to tell her that she has to stay away from them entirely at school." He said.

Sean's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "But, won't that just result in her getting into even worse situations?" He asked.

"It's not ideal." Owen inclined his head slightly, pulling his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose. He was certainly going to have more headaches this year if the amount of headaches he'd had in just three days of school was anything to judge by. He cleaned the lenses off and put them back on before looking at Sean. "But it will answer the question if McCoy and Hendricks remain interested in her if we… they… are not with her all the time in the halls, before and after school and at lunch."

Sean looked skeptical. "I've heard they can't let her go to the bathroom on her own or even just take the trash across the yard to the garbage can without her getting accosted by the Neanderthals at this school." He commented. "It seems risky to put her safety at risk." He leaned back again against his desk and crossed his arms.

"Situations we're here to monitor." Owen shrugged slightly. "Tomorrow's Friday, let's at least just see what happens with the distance tomorrow."

Sean sighed and made a face. "Well, I don't like it… I know they for sure won't like it…" He said, still frowning.

"We may not have much choice if we don't try now." Owen said with a sigh. "You'll take her away from the group while they work on a few mini assignments we need them to do… uniforms etc. and talk to her. I think she's scared of me."

Sean snorted. "Yeah, you're one hell of a scary dude." He teased. "Fine fine… we'll do this your way."

Owen shook his head before smirking. "Of course we will." He said before taking his seat behind his desk so that they could put their plan in motion. They had to get control over detention first after all…

 ** _(Fade…)_**


	4. A Report: Shower Aftermath (F vs F)

**_~A~_**

Owen took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "Report, Dr. Green."

"Owen…" Sean said with a dark tone. "I realize we're discussing something in a fairly professional manner here but there's no need to be that formal." He said, running his hand down over his eyes before he shoved it back over his head, moving the tousled curls away from his forehead. "God…" he shook his head and exhaled slowly.

Owen's eyes cut to his best friend and studied him. "Will she be okay?" he asked softly, his tone relenting from its usual harsh tone that he'd been using lately when it came to Sang Sorenson.

"Yeah, probably." Sean muttered, reaching for the red bull that was on the counter next to him and guzzling it down. His shoulder's slumped slightly. "We can't even manage to let her stay safe at home." He was bewildered. Well, he knew that there were families that dealt with these issues but in all the time of knowing Sang so far, he'd had no idea that she dealt with this abuse on a fairly regular basis.

"There's more to this." Owen said, more to himself, starting to pace in the kitchen as he tried to put things in order and make sense of them. "I will have to talk to the boys, there's no way this is the first time." He said, turning and glancing up at Sean, one eyebrow arching up in question.

Sean pursed his lips. "Probably not." He allowed. "She really does not like to be a bother. I bet she wouldn't have told us much about it. Probably won't when she wakes up."

Owen nodded. "You only gave her a partial portion of that sedative, right? We don't need her to sleep all weekend."

"Minimal dose." Sean said. "What I'd use on a child in any other circumstance." He closed his eyes for a moment. A long slow exhale clarified his thoughts for him. "Lacerations on wrists and ankles, ankle swelling, probably twisted at minimum. Possible further damage to the bone bruise. Shoulders will be sore as she was tied with bungie cords to a stool, according to Silas and Nathan, arms behind her, legs wrapped around the legs of the stool." He opened his eyes to look at Owen, his emotions showing in the dullness of his green eyes as they met the steel in his best friends gaze.

"Continue." Owen knew there was more.

Sean took another deep breath and kept his eyes locked on Owen's as he spoke. "Potential for 2nd degree burns on upper body, unable to fully determine the depth of burn because once the water grew cold, it would have started the healing process of easing the sting of the burns. Lower lip split open and irritated. Will still need to check for internal issues, the boys said she couldn't talk. Possible bruising at back of head indicating hair was pulled tightly." He rubbed his hands over his face, scrubbing against them as though wishing to remove the sight of Sang's injuries from his memories.

Owen pursed his lips and crossed his arms again, choosing to lean against the counter opposite of Sean's. "Doesn't it seem to you as though our family has been keeping the little bird's secrets from us?" He said, reaching up to push at the corner of his glasses, moving them back up onto his nose. "They don't seem as stunned or outraged as I'd expect them to be."

"We were watching that from registration." Sean said. "There had to be a reason that they were drawn to her in the first place. I can see it, if they were just wanting to protect her but the moment we initiated the adoption proceedings, Kota should have informed us. At the very least…"

Owen gave one sharp short nod. "At the very least." He agreed, eyes narrowing as he considered the issues that had now been caused by the lack of information from the boys. "What a mess." He said softly.

Sean studied him. "As much as trouble seems to define her… this isn't her fault."

"No…" Owen nodded slightly. "Agreed. But it's trouble that we weren't able to take the necessary steps to avoid… which is their fault and as soon as she wakes up and you are able to finish checking her over, then we are going to be having a family meeting."

"Sure we don't want to do that before she wakes up?" Sean asked. "You know, get the super-secret spy stuff out of the way…"

Owen's lips trembled slightly as if he was fighting a smile before he nodded. "Good idea. We'll probably end up with another one once she wakes up anyway. Something a little more … not so super-secret spy clearance level."

Sean's countenance cleared up a bit and his eyes regained some of his usual exuberance and amusement but before he could say anything, Owen swept by him and headed into Nathan's living room.

 **(Fade…)**


	5. A Report: Council Meeting (First Kiss)

**~A~**

Dr. Roberts waited for Kota and Sang to leave the cabin before turning to his other council members. "Obviously we have a few things to update in her file." He said in amusement.

"It does seem to be missing a few things." Mr. Buble said, glancing at the file they'd received. "When are we going to have it updated?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the file Dr. Roberts was holding. "You're holding out on us, Phil. I can clearly see that file is much thicker than these are."

Mrs. Rose looked intrigued and gave her own attention to the file her friend was holding. ~Well, she was better at being my voice than I thought she would be. ~ She signed. ~Dr. Green said she knew some sign but she was fantastic. ~

The others nodded their agreement as Dr. Roberts came back over to sit with them in the semi-circle. "Well, she really is quite remarkable." He said as there was a brief knock on the door. "Come in." he said, not at all surprised when the door opened and Owen Blackbourne stood there. "Owen, impeccable timing as usual." He smiled, waving him in. "We were just discussing Miss Sorenson."

Owen's mouth pressed into a tight line as he walked in and closed the door behind him, his eyes casually surveying the gathered council members. "You were…?" He asked. "I was hoping to catch you all. I wanted to both apologize and thank you." He said, walking up to them but not taking the seat next to Mrs. Rose that she had eagerly cleared off for him. Both he and Sean knew she liked them. She was in a way, like Dr. Roberts, someone that they both looked up to and respected. Owen suspected that she had already been aware of Sang before they arrived, he just wanted to have a little chat with Sean about it before discussing with any council members the extent of their prior knowledge.

~No need for either~ Mrs. Rose signed at him.

He inclined his head slightly. "I appreciate that Mrs. Rose. But it is needed. I didn't mean to interrupt your evening last night but in my observations and dealings with Miss Sorenson, it made more sense to have her speak to you immediately before she could take the rest of the night to convince herself that things were not as bad as she initially thought."

"Sounds like you've had that experience before." Mr. Duncan said, with a shrewd look at him.

Owen felt his lips turn up into his slight millimeter smile. "I and my team had perhaps not thought much about how to deal with a girl." He admitted. "We do have interaction with Mr. Lee's sister and mother on a fairly regular basis but having a girl around their own age has certainly been an experience." He admitted. "And I did want to thank you for meeting with her last night and from what I can gather from Mr. Lee's text, the meeting today went well and she will be with us at least for the rest of the school year."

The council nodded.

"So thank you, she has had a lot of change to deal with in her life over the last 6 months and it really would jeopardize our mission at the high school if she was fully and completely removed from the picture."

"Yes." Mr. Buble nodded. "Mr. Lee expressed that point of view very capably." He said. "Your team is a credit to the Academy, Mr. Blackbourne."

"Thank you." Owen nodded.

~We'd like to know a bit more about Miss Sang. ~ Mrs. Rose signed. ~Are you willing to give a few more perspectives? ~

Owen smiled slightly and nodded to her. "I am willing." He agreed. She beamed at him and clapped her hands before looking at her fellow council members to get things started.

"I think we need to know what's in Phil's file first." Mr. Buble said.

"No." Dr. Roberts shook his head, knowing there was a few subtractions that needed to be pulled out of her file. He had discussed with Owen last night about the Anderson team. It wasn't time for that yet and right now, his notes were still part of the file with regard to what he'd advised Owen on about meeting the Andersons. "Let's just start with questions and I'll let you know if it's here and we can ask something different. Otherwise, I'm just taking a lot of notes for what needs to be updated." He said.

"Sounds fine to me." Mr. Duncan said before looking Owen over. "I get the impression that our view of her last night was an extreme situational circumstance." Owen nodded slightly. "What can you tell us about her?"

Owen spoke to them for over a half an hour, telling them of her academic work and some of the more subtle things that they'd found out about her. Mrs. Rose interjected a few things here and there that she'd picked up from her time with Sang over the past week. Owen glanced at his phone when a text buzzed in and he made his apologies. "I really didn't intend on taking up so much of your morning. I know there are still others waiting to speak with you today." He said.

"It's all right, Owen." Dr. Roberts said. "I will be in touch as I've offered to keep an eye on your team as Miss Sorenson settles in."

"Thank you." Owen said with a nod to each of them before he exited the cabin, intent on getting answers to the strange text he'd received from Sean about the boys and Sang.

The council looked at one another. "We absolutely insist on a copy of that file as soon as it's updated." Mr. Duncan said.

"Of course." Dr. Roberts said, tucking today's notes inside the file folder. "Within 3 days, once I have a chance to recover from this week." He smiled. "Imagine that, knowing her team by scent…" He chuckled and they all joined in before the next candidate was summoned into the cabin.

 **(Fade…)**


	6. A Report: Shopping for Sang (First Kiss)

**~A~**

Owen stood in the middle of the mall, looking around as he tried to figure out what he was shopping for next. He pulled out his phone, pulling up the notepad app and studied the list.

They'd all figured out a list of things to buy Sang for camping and he'd participated in those purchases.

He also knew that each of them was planning on and had purchased other items for her.

He'd snooped through all the bags in Sean's room to see what was also there for her. He sighed softly, nudging his glasses up so that he could rub the bridge of his nose. Looked like the only thing left was something additional for Sang.

Miss Sorenson.

The most beautiful…. Crazy… intelligent… little girl he'd ever met.

Little girl was probably not at all what he should use to describe her anymore. It's not as though she was as young or little as Miss Lee.

No, young woman was probably a much better description.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked up from his phone and glanced around at the shops surrounding him. He sent a text to Sean. ~Are you shopping for anything else for Miss Sorenson? ~

He shifted, turning to look down the hallway to his left. Maybe he should just start walking and not worry about trying to seek out an opinion from Sean about his choice of gift.

~I have one thing left. I know what I want though. Did you need help? ~

Owen sighed softly at the message before tapping at his screen, sending back an agreement that he did actually require a consult for the purchase.

~A consult? You're hilarious Owen. ~ He heard the chuckle as he read the message, turning slightly to see Sean move up next to him. He eyed him. Sean laughed again. "You are extremely hilarious." He advised his best friend.

"Glad you are amused." He muttered, rolling his eyes. He shifted slightly on his feet before glancing at Sean.

"You're always amusing to me…" Sean said. "Now, I'm sensing an impatience in you that says you're tired of me dragging things on and you just want to find what you need and shut the door on this year's Christmas shopping."

"You know me so well." Owen raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course I do." Sean nodded, putting an arm around Owen's shoulders and steering him out of his spot and towards the hallway behind them. "Now, what you have to ask yourself is what it is that you want to get her."

"I don't know." Frustration colored his voice and relayed how vexed he was feeling.

"There, there Owen. Don't worry about it, just trust Dr. Green here, I've never steered you wrong."

Owen snorted. "You're sure about that?" He asked skeptically.

"You're wounding me." Sean said. "We have clicked from day one." Owen nodded slightly. "Aha, you do agree with me." He said happily. "I am so glad, I don't have to return your extra gift now."

Owen shook his head. "You're impossible. Are you sure you don't want to go sit on Santa's knee while we're here too?"

"Oh, do you think we could? I usually do enjoy a good chat with Jolly ol' Saint Nick."

"We don't have time."

"Then why bring it up?" Sean pulled a face. "C'mon, Owen… think of the present we could give Miss Sang if we both sat with him and had a picture taken with him."

"I believe we shall be passing up that opportunity. Besides, and I remind you, we're shopping for Miss Sorenson and you're supposed to help me figure out what I should buy."

"Fine fine, just this once." Sean waved a hand. "But next time…" he shrugged as he paused in their walking, looking into the window. "What are you leaning towards getting her?" He asked abruptly, his green eyes locking on Owen's Steel gray eyes. "Clothes, movies, music, books… toys… stuffed animals…?"

Owen shook his head. "No, I don't think so…" He said. "Those all sound like what the other boys will get her." He said. "I don't think of her at all with any of those."

"Ah, word association, sure." Sean nodded. "Well, let's just go in here, we can see just how you fee. About getting her a move." He said, steering Owen into the movie store.

They wandered through all of the stores that Sean had tried to suggest. Nothing seemed right. Nothing screamed out to Owen that it was Sang.

"Okay. Last chance." He said, staring up at the name of a well-known jeweler. "It has to be here." He glanced at Sean.

Sean smirked. "Ah, yes… diamonds are a girl's best friend." He said, seeming to mentally check his bank balance. "And I know just what I want to get for her now."

Owen scowled. "We were supposed to find my gift for her, not let you spend more money on her." He stated.

Sean shrugged. "Plenty to look at and choose, Owen. There's plenty of things to choose from."

Owen looked up again and then glanced at the windows. "Okay." He nodded. "It's worth looking." He decided before receiving a slap on the back from Sean as his brother walked into the store, leaving him to follow along.

It didn't actually take Sean long to find a gift, deciding on a diamond tennis bracelet, glancing at it for a long moment to watch it sparkle in the sunlight before it was bagged up and handed over to him. "Well, Owen?" He asked, watching his best friend. "Find anything yet that screams Sang?"

Owen pursed his lips together and shook his head grimly. "Not yet." He said, starting to feel anxious. He moved on to the next case which featured several items that did not appear to be jewelry at first glance.

Sean could tell when Owen saw something he liked for her. His shoulders relaxed and his eyes, when he looked up, shone with a light that he only saw in his eyes when he'd spent time with Sang. He raised an eyebrow at him.

"I … I think this case is the answer." He said.

Sean moved over next to him to look at them. He smiled. "So, which one is it?"

Owen's hand hovered over a crystal heart for a moment. "No…" he shook his head. "That's not quite the one." He mused. He wanted it to signify not just his love for Sang but also to be something that could stand for what both of them liked. He shifted and moved his hand over a crystal rose pendant. "This one." He nodded. "This is the one." He said softly, waiting for the clerk to get it out of the case and hand it to him to look at. He let it dangle by the chain in the sunlight, the many facets cut into the pendant sending mini rainbows dancing around the room and he smiled. "Yes, this is it." He said, setting it down and pulling out his wallet.

"Excellent choice, Owen." Sean said softly.

Owen finally felt a weight lift from his shoulders and he smiled back at Sean. "It is." He nodded. "She'll like it." He said with confidence.

Sean clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Oh yes… she'll like it." He said with a nod. "But not because of what it is or how much you spent on it but simply because you chose it for her." He said.

Realization dawned on Owen and he glanced from the rose to Sean. A feeling of hope and encouragement swept through him before he looked down slightly. "I supposed you're right." He said simply, waiting to be handed his receipt and the bag.

Sean snorted. "Just can't bring yourself to agree with me outright?" He raised an eyebrow at Owen.

"Oh, I agree." Owen said. "I just don't want you to get a swelled head because I complimented you." He flashed a millimeter smile before collecting his bag and sweeping out the door and back into the mall. Sean stared after him for a moment before grinning and loping easily out the door of the shop and hastily making his way back to Owen's side so that they could go back to the concierge service desk and retrieve the packages and bags they'd already left there while they shopped.

Christmas was certainly going to be fun this year.

 **(Fade…)**


End file.
